The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) was established by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by combining five Caribbean Regional Health Institutes (RHIs): The Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI)
The Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC); The Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI); The Caribbean Health Research Council (CHRC)
The Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory (CRDTL).

Graduation Day for CR-FELTP Trainees

On Thursday, February 19, 2015, the first cohort of Trainees to complete Level I of the Caribbean Regional Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (CR-FELTP) celebrated their graduation with a ceremony at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The ceremony was attended by CR-FELTP Mentors and Trainers, public health managers and colleagues, as well as Dr. Joy St. John, Chief Medical Officer, Mr. Tennyson Springer, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and Dr. Rachel Albalak, Director of the CDC Caribbean Regional Office (CDC CRO). With the diligent support of Dr. Karen Springer and Ms. Maria Ingram, the Barbados FELTP Country Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator, fifteen Trainees from several public health program areas successfully graduated in the first CR-FELTP cohort.

Shauna Chase, a Medical Laboratory Technologist from the Ladymeade Reference Unit Laboratory, offered a vote of thanks on behalf of her fellow Trainees: “We have been fortunate enough to be supported by a team of very motivated and dedicated professionals, who know their job and are results oriented. I extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to all of our supervisors, mentors and trainers for assisting us whenever and wherever possible.”

Dr. St. John extended her thanks to CDC CRO and CARPHA, and especially to the trainers, mentors and surveillance officers who supported the Barbados FELTP participants in their learning activities. The CMO remarked, “The participants not only have a better understanding of how to address issues of public health interest, such as outbreak investigation, but have also improved their written and communication skills which are essential to the practice of public health. We look forward to your active participation in outbreak investigations in the future and call on institutional managers in supporting you in these activities.”

The Caribbean Regional Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (CR-FELTP) was successfully launched in Barbados in May 2014. The country was the first of eleven countries to implement their own national Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme in 2014-2015.
The CR-FELTP training curriculum has been developed by the CARPHA team, in collaboration with many subject matter experts from the Caribbean region, including partners from PAHO, University of West Indies, and the U.S. CDC. Each country participating in the CR-FELTP uses a common curriculum that addresses core public health competencies, while the field projects that Trainees undertake in their work sites are tailored to the public health priorities of their host organizations.

More information about the CR-FELTP is available here http://carpha.org/feltp